The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-10-27
REMINIsCENsEs OF JENNY LIND.
How Americans Went Wild Over the Grea
Singer-The Enchantment of Her Voice.

SiDger-Th6 EuChRutment of Her voice.
Lucy Hooper, in Philadel alpha Telegraph.
Those who heard her in their extreme youth
are middle aged people now, and those who were
enchanted by her in their prime fast grow
ing old But those who once listened to that
marvellous voice remembe 10 and will re-
mem Der it forevermore. was little more than
child when I first listened to it; a school girl
not far advanced in my teens. Yet now. If
could reproduce the memory of a sound a
painter can the memory of face that once
charmed him. could this hour renew the en-
chentment of that forgotten moment, the first
my life ever knew of keen artistic delight. As
/ write there arises before me. far moro distinct
to my mental vision than the image OF
the singer that I heard last week. that tall,
graceful form in Its rich attire of white silk
and delicate lace, the rapt. ecstatic expression
of the large appraised blue eyes, the diamonds
flashing like dewdrops amid the green leaves in
terwoven with the MASSIVE coils of the profuse
blonde tresses. And seem to hear the words
Il know that that my Redeemer Eveth." borne
up ana Up. as upon wings OF crystal. the voice
exquisite in its divine beauty, the soul behind
the voice lending 1t such marvellous depths OF
expression! Old men sat speecnless with the
tears streaming down their cheeks they list
ened to that song. 1t was something like a
glimpse of Heaven, or rather like thrill of the
celestial harmony, for voice and expression were
alike of unearthv sweetness.
Jenny Lind our first great artistic seusa-
ton. The American public had had Malidran
in former times, but that great prima donna vas
then in her green and salad days; her powers were
immature and she sang before audiences as yet
incapable of divining the diva in the unfinished
student. But Jenny Lima came TO US In the
full perfection of her genius and her fame.
What that genius was, We realize now as per-
haps but few OF her American hearers did in
those by-eone days We were enchained by the
spell, but we did not altogether comprehend the
nature of the euchantment. We can under
stand it better since nearly half century OF
musical culture and experience has passed over
our heads. Never since then has such a singer
thrilled the heart of the listening world with
divinest melody.
The voice of Jenny Lind was not only Eof ex-
ual tV,Sn rfo nnry nv ordc
ness of tone throughout Added to tnese quail
ties were those of extraordinary power and vol
uue. When she first sang in New York she ap-
peared at Castle Garden. The wonderful voice.
as hood.like, as silvery. as exquisite AS moon
light not only filed the vast circuit of tho
cent FORT but streamed upon the night air
outsde. People ussd to make excursions
boats on the nights of the Jenny Lind concerts
to hearken to the melody that hoated ont over
of the most thoroughly trained artstes that
ever has sung in public. For six years she
studied under the severest and most admirable
of professors, the great Garcia. Mendelssohn
pronounced her be the finest artistic Of her
day. day whose noontide hours shone upon
snoh singers as Grisi aud Persani and Pauline
Viardot Garcia
Then. too, her singing was intensely svmpa-
thetic, quality difficult to define, yet potent
beyond all power of explanation. She carried
her hearers captive-they could not choose bnt
Hsten-they could not fail to be enchanted.
Men who knew nothing and cared nothing for
music. and who grum bled vigorously at having
ing a woman sing three or four songs, went wild
as they listened, and moved heaven and earth to
procure tickets for her future concerts. People
Intervene her personality with her talent.
and took the woman to their hearts and
adored her they adored the artistic. Once,
at one of her concerts. while she was singing
Comm thro' the Rye" one of her long, fair
tresses became unfastened and fell her
neck, and the spectators enjoyed the little Incl
dent and smiled and were pleased at the mo-
mentary confusion of their idol. 1t seemed to
them, somehow.
She was not beautiful. yet when she sang, and
especially when she sang sacred music, her face
became TRANSPORTED with unearthly lowell
ness. At these moments she might have served
a model for Jeanne dare listening to the
voices of her angel visitants. In secular music
che proved her incontestable dramatic powers.
[ think 1t was this quality that
made her singing of English bal
lads so popular The delicious
of Comm thro the Rye the tender pathos of
her Home. Sweet Home" will never be forgot
by those who were so fortunate as to hear
them. In that last song she introduced long,
silver-toned trill at the lines, THE birds gay
singing that came at my call" the effect of
which was marvellous, but less so than the i'm
pnssioned depth of pathos that she impaired to
the whole hackneyed but everrouching song.
1t was beyond description, that wall of exile
for the home that he should nevermore behold.
Jenny Lind never heard in opera in
America From those who were so fortunate as
to have seen her in some of her famous roles.
such Lucia, Arnina. Alice in Robert le
Dlable" have learned that actress she
equaled her renown singer. Her repertoir
was limited. but within its range she was incom.
parable. Yet she never really enjoyed her tri-
umphs upon the stage. She threw herself with
much energy into the representation OF her
part, and her self absorption complete,
that the fatigue and over excitement always
resulted in agonizing headaches 1t this
popularity that finally drove her to abandon the
lyric stage for that of the concert.ro room.
She was the worlds idol. and Justly so. In
her the public worshiped not only the greatest
of singers but also one of the best of women.
Those who adored her adored a saint. There
apologies to be made for lovers ard
illeeitimate children in the background
We all the better for having
gone wild about her. She went on
her triumphal career, strewing her path
way with good deeds she nassed The fort
gained durit & Am rican con-
secrated by her to foundation of free schools
for children in Sweden. It amounted to
over $500, 600. far larger sum actually in those
DAYS than it is at present. Her charitable deeds
and unfaiug kindness to the poor and the af-
f1cted were characterized at the time by the
quotation. 1.-THE rich draw friends to them, but
the poor draw angels"
A Strike Thre
PITTsBURG. Oct. 26-It is now almost set